Abigail Moor by Valerie Holmes Read Free Book Online Page A

she hardly knew nor understood; contemplating a
life where she had to make all the decisions for herself. But try
as she might, she had no answers as to how she could survive like
that, as her knowledge was so limited. She was also restricted by
her appearance as a young woman of standing; as such she stood out
in such humble dark surroundings. She stared at the worn down muddy
flagstones and then at the low beamed doorways. No chandeliers or
fine candles made of quality wax lit wide corridors here. Suddenly,
her naivety of the world which would have been seen as a virtue,
had sufficed to blinker her from truth – reality itself. One
thought permeated her gloom: I shall learn. “Like a phoenix,” she
muttered to herself, “I shall rise from this moment to face the
challenge.”
    “Lass! What
will I do with you? Honestly!” Martha cut across her gloom as she
bustled across the cold floor and picked up a poker from its stand
by the fire. She prodded the ashes and rekindled the subsiding
flames, placing fresh wood on top. “Could you not see that that
needed doing? Sat there muttering to yerself, you better had stop
that or else you’ll end up in the funny house! I don’t know what
we’re to do with you.” She sighed.
    Abigail was
distracted, but could tell Martha was flustered. “Well there was no
one else to talk to, Martha. You left me alone!” She did not look
at the man who had returned with Martha, but let the woman’s rebuke
pass over her, and instead stared curiously at the lower parlour
door.
    Ezekiel stood
boldly in front of her. He smelt of sour sweat and ale, his figure
was grubby, unshaven and solid as it blocked her view. “You best be
changin’ your ways and quick, miss. Life has done you a bad turn,
but you’ve got to look out for each other now. You can’t be leaving
everything to Martha. She is going to need your help too. Life is
tough for women with no men folk around. Keep your sights on what
is happening about you, and to you – around the both of you that
is, and off that what is none of your concern. That way you just
might survive to see your way to being a full grown woman.” His
voice was deep and gruff.
    Abigail was
going to reply in kind to the man for talking to her so bluntly,
and showing her little, if no respect. He was not her father – she
already missed Lord Edmund Hammond a great deal. She glared at
Martha for leaving her and telling a stranger the details of her
current situation. She did not take kindly to being advised as to
how to behave or what to do by a common innkeeper. Nor the
confidence that Martha had shared with this, the first stranger
they had come across – a stranger to her, that is.
    “Don’t look at
me like that, Abigail,” Martha answered, seemingly more shocked
than annoyed.
    Abigail noticed
that she was already being addressed as an equal or subordinate. It
annoyed her, but she was no longer on her father’s estate, so she
had to adapt her ideals.
    “Ezekiel and I
go back a long way,” Martha continued, and winked at the man, a
knowing grin appeared on her face. “If we can’t get on that coach
tonight then it is he who will arrange our transport to safety. We
mustn’t be found by the young Mr Hammond, not now. It would be
devastating for the both of us. That Blackman man would treat you
like... Well never you mind. Bad, though, and I’d be thrown into
the asylum or the lock up. No, believe me, lass, his sort don’t
like losing. They is bully boys, no more, no less.”
    Abigail glanced
at Ezekiel. It was a description which she felt would have fitted
the landlord, although she did not voice her opinion. Martha
replaced the poker and sat down next to Abigail placing the young
woman’s hand in her own. Abigail looked straight at the man, dirty
and rough as he was, and tried to think of him as a ‘friend’. She
found the idea difficult to come to terms with. Martha had always
been hers – her maid, her friend, her servant. Abigail had